This article was published on May 14, 2015

Watch now: The future of shopping


Stores are becoming a mere showrooms.

John Lunn, Paypal’s Global Developer Director, talks about the future of shopping. The world is changing and we are arguably living in the most revolutionary time ever since the birth of commerce, with changes in the way consumers shop and retailers operate.

The internet has a great influence over brick and mortar stores, too. People are using online technology to decide what are they going to buy in the real world. In fact, 65 percent of purchases that are made in real world are researched on the internet.

This leads to stores slowly changing into showrooms. 43 percent of adults go to the store without any intention of buying things and 37 percent of people make a purchase using their cellphone when they are still in a store. If stores don’t have a good online channel, they are in a big trouble.

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The internet changes the way retailers think about their customers. The most valuable customers are not necessarily those who buy the most items, but those who tell their friends about the shop. Also, for online retailers, it is much easier to collect data about their customers. Traditionally, offline customers need to go through the hassle of offline surveys, loyalty cards, and warranties. Online retailers have those information available instantly.

Are you annoyed by the enormous amount of plastic loyalty cards in your wallet? And do you want to know what the loyalty card of the future is?

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